Help with my training routine.

[TheKnob]

Well basically up until early November all of my training had been bodyweight stuff, mostly handstands, ring work, pullups, pushups, dips, heavy bag. Well I've built a pretty decent physique, sorry I cant post pics (alot of tattoos, scars, and I actually wouldn't know how anyway) with this style of training but with my interest in becoming a personal trainer I wanted to get into the gym. I was originally only in there to do squats, deadlifts, and play around a little bit, see how strong I was. I really enjoy the weights, and have been putting on weight, mostly from the squats and of course hcgenerate (I love it) and alot of whey protien shakes. I've put on about 25 pounds since summer, and most of it since joining the gym. I am hooked on muscle, and want to get show ready so I can look the part and become a successful personal trainer. I feel that what I was doing did alot to develop my chest, arms, and mostly shoulders. My shoulders are awesome. I believe that is from spending alot of time doing handstands (against a wall, I'm just starting to work into freestanding). I was only working out at the gym on Sunday's and doing my regular workout of handstands, front and back lever work on the rings, pushups/dips, and weighted pullups and chins 4 days a week. Now I will be going to the gym on Wednesday's as well. I figure on doing full body those days, something like this:
Sunday:
5 sets of handstands in my warmup
Squats 5x5 getting up to 205 so far, terrible I know but very deep.
Incline press 205 x4,4 195x6 (last workout)
Alternating with pullups as wide as I can get to make 3x8
Db flat bench press: got up to 90's x7 last time
Db row: got up to 90 for 10 last time
That was it

Wednesday I plan on warming up again doing some handstands
Then squat (higher reps, less weight), overhead press, cleans or snatch, deadlifts, maybe bb row, and maybe some reverse bb curls (I have to do reverse grip on these to help let my elbows heal from overtraining I developed some nice tendinitis from so many workouts every week) and I'm not sure if direct arm works really needed, I've always struggled to add size to my arms and these bodyweight workouts and no direct arm work have givin me my best arms ever.

I was thinking Fridays I would do the regular stuff I'm used to at home, since it's been good to me so far, just hasn't done squat for my lower body. Also I will have a hard time getting in to the gym anymore than that, I'm a busy guy, family, work, school, etc.

I really want to get solid on my handstands as I would like to do a straddle press to handstand in my routine, and I really am happy with my shoulder development at least visually- very round, definitely my best asset.

Does this all sound pretty solid? I plan on adding another 30 (maybe more) pounds before a show in November and think it would be really cool to still be athletic with the added mass.

 

[shibs]

hey if its not broke why fix it? imo you shouldn't change anything until you stop seeing results

 

[TheKnob]

That sure sounds reasonable. I keep seeing all these other routines that are so different than mine. I will probably stay with my sun/weds full body compound movements, which is still pretty new to me, and Friday a hard home handstand/ring workout, which I believe has given me a pretty solid foundation. I think maybe I'll get the best of both worlds with my plan. I still see some parkour and possibly some mma down the line even though I'm pretty excited about this bodybuilding business and putting on weight fast.

 

[shibs]

sure, but heres a tip; if you're trying to bulk, you don't want to do too much cardio because you're burning calories. so the more you have the need to bulk, the more you might start moving into the weight room and leaving the bodyweight exercises behind. just adjust to your needs.

 

[bblazer]

Since you are interested in being a trainer, and look the part, I offer this. When I meet or see a trainer, the first thing I look at is to see if they are "top heavy." What I mean by that is if they look really big and solid from the waist up, and then have chicken legs and no glutes. You don't want to look like you are from the casting room for Jersey Shore.

One thing you might want to consider, is to put your upper body work into a "maintenance mode" and really start working hard and with a lot of volume on your squats and deadlifts. Stay away from the machines for now unless it is something like a hack squat machine, and then only maybe as a finisher to a squat or deadlift workout.

A simple goal to work to might be to be able to squat 2x your bodyweight for 3 reps, and deadlift 2.5x your bodyweight for 3 reps.

Just some thoughts,

B-

 

[TheKnob]

Damn dude, those are some pretty ambitious numbers, I had this list of goals I got off a thread somewhere on these forums: 2.5x bodyweight on deadlift, 1.75x bw on squat, 1.5x on bench. I thought I would struggle to hit that squat number, now you go and throw that out there! My squat sucks. I squat less than I incline press.. I am putting most of my focus on squats- I do them first in my workouts, I have been doing 5x5 and trying to get as heavy as I can, like a set with 185, then 195, then try and get heavier if I can (205 for one set of 5 has been my best) but as soon as I drop back to 185 I can hit 10 reps, probably more. I do go all the way down at least. Squats and deadlifts are all I got on my lower body. I hate machines. Today I'm going in and will do:
Squats 5x10 (I wanna go higher reps on one of my 2 squat workouts a week) 185#
Overhead press 5x5 try to get up to 115 on these
Pullups Behind the neck 4x? Haven't tried these yet
Incline db press 70s or 80s 3-4 sets of 5-8 havent done these yet
Row bb or db
Deadlifts up to 275x5 for one set

 

[TheKnob]

Definitely no no no to cardio! I won't do any of it til summer, promise.

Gonna definitely focus on my squats- I suck and they are king, I just found that squat thread, holy shit I'm in love, my squat sucks but the solutions are in there, I've being doing all the wrongs, none of the rights, my form sucks, I'm not flexible enough. Gonna change all that. 2x a week for squats.

Here's the workout I just did:

Handstands 5x30 sec against the wall
Squats (light day higher reps) 3x10 185
Overhead press 95x5, 115x5 125 3x5
Did behind the neck pullups 4x3 between sets of ohp
Incline db press 60x10 70x10 80x8 I like these!
Would do a back move here but my elbow tendinitis needs rest so I passed
(I like to alternate push/pull)
Deadlift 225x5 275x5
Weighed 199.8 today but ate more than usual for breakfast and had a big can of monster energy drink so I won't count the gain.
I will hit 200 by next Wednesday I'm sure.
I'll try 135 on my overhead presses next week.
Should I alternate higher reps/lower reps on my squats like I started doing?